The fire, determined to be the work of an arsonist, likely happened as a result of faulty security equipment, insufficient staffing and inadequate training, DPS Sgt. Michael Escalante told Department of Public Safety commissioners Thursday in a public briefing of his preliminary report.

Related Stories

"It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that came into play that contributed to a very unhappy outcome," Polunsky, a San Antonio lawyer, said later.

Only 13 of the 20 security cameras were working at the time of the mansion fire, Escalante told the commission. And the most important part of the mansion security — an infrared beam system designed to trip an alarm if someone jumped over the mansion wall — broke down in February or March, Escalante said.

The defective infrared system finally was sent out for repairs in mid-May.

A sole state trooper on duty when the arsonist entered the mansion grounds was working at a computer station and not looking at a video console showing images from the functioning security cameras, Escalante said.

One of those cameras showed a young male — perhaps in his 20s — throwing a device onto the front porch of the 152-year-old mansion, triggering an immediate and fast-spreading fire, state Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado said.

Polunsky asked Escalante if enough troopers were positioned at the Governor's Mansion after Gov. Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, moved out last fall at the start of a $10 million renovation project.

Request had been denied

Some troopers had asked for extra help, Escalante said, but DPS superiors did not respond.

"There is an underlying lesson to be learned from what has taken place here, and that is we need to fill the vacant positions that we have now, and we need to have additional authorized commissioned officers," Polunsky said.

The unnamed state trooper on duty at the time of the fire had worked earlier in the day at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and was filling in for a colleague from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the mansion, Polunsky said.

Escalante told the commission that having a single trooper guarding the mansion was not enough, and that many of the troopers assigned to the mansion were not properly trained to handle the sophisticated security system.

"Some received training. Some did not," he said. "Some were not familiar with the cameras."

Escalante is a special crimes service investigator whose 22 years with DPS include serving on then-Gov. George W. Bush's security detail.

Polunsky speculated that no DPS officials or troopers likely would be disciplined, "unless we find gross negligence or dereliction of duty or something like that."

In his briefing, Escalante said an off-duty Austin police officer saw a suspicious person making a U-turn on a street outside the mansion.

The police officer retrieved a cigarette lighter where the suspect's car had been parked. DPS is analyzing the lighter.